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Verse:Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. —2 Timothy 2:15, NIV
As a young person, I enjoyed attending the Sabbath afternoon youth program at our local country church. Among other fun activities, there was a contest to be the fastest to find and read specific Bible passages.
Almost without exception, my older sister, Eleda, won the contest. It seemed like her Bible always opened automatically to the different verses.
Imagine how impossible this would have been centuries ago with the early Bibles, divided only by books, with no chapters or verses. Stephen Langton (ca. 1150–1228) was an influential archbishop of Canterbury who died on July 9, 1228. “He is credited with having divided the Bible into the standard... arrangement of chapters used today.”16 Then, in 1448, Jewish rabbi Mordecai Nathan subdivided the Old Testament into verses. And in 1551, Robert Stephanus (also known as Robert Estienne), keeping Nathan’s divisions of the Old Testament, added similar subdivisions to the New Testament.
The first complete Bible with chapter and verse divisions was the Geneva Bible of 1560, an influential Protestant translation into English prior to the King James Version. But what does it mean to “correctly handle” God’s Word? Correct handling comprises at least four important aspects: (1) to demonstrate familiarity with the Bible; (2) to respect the Bible as God’s Word; (3) to interpret its content correctly; and (4) to allow its truth to transform our lives. “As you take the Bible in your hands, remember that you are on holy ground.”17 Much more than just another good book, the Bible must be the light of your whole life (Psalm 119:105). “Make the Bible the man of your counsel. Your acquaintance with it will grow rapidly if you keep your minds free from the rubbish of the world. The more the Bible is studied, the deeper will be your knowledge of God. The truths of His word will be written in your soul, making an ineffaceable impression.” God’s Word brings joy, meaning, and hope to our lives. It is the divine bridge that connects time with eternity (Isaiah 40:6–8) and the only condition for everlasting life.